Royal Insignia has stamped his class with victory in the Manfred Stakes at Sandown.
Trainer Grahame Begg revealed a sad postscript to the exciting return victory of Royal Insignia in a Stakes race at Sandown.
The colt’s dam Yau Chin was humanely euthanised 24 hours before Royal Insignia took out the Group 3 Manfred Stakes (1200m) on Saturday.
Yan Chin also produced Written By, also by Written Tycoon, and won the Blue Diamond Stakes as a two-year-old before becoming a successful stallion.
“The sad part is we had to put his mother down yesterday,” Begg said.
“She was an old mare but a great producer.
“We’ve got another promising filly out of the family Perfect Picture that won at Pakenham recently and she’s out of a half-sister to this horse (Royal Insignia).
“She’s very exciting as well so the family lives on.”
Ridden by Jamie Mott, Royal Insigna ($7.50) finished strongly to score by a neck from Tropicus ($5.50) with the $4 favourite Band Of Brothers a long head away third.
Begg said Royal Insignia and Written By were different types of gallopers and he is looking forward to stepping Royal Insignia up in distance.
The Group 3 C S Hayes Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on February 15 is next on the agenda for Royal Insignia with the potential to go to the Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington on March 1.
“We’ve always had a lot of faith in this horse,” Begg said.
“I took him to Bendigo for his first race and he got it all wrong that day. He got beaten eight lengths and I came home scratching my head and thought what has gone wrong here.
“We turned him out, brought him back and gave him a couple of runs later in the spring but he’s gone to another level now.
“He’s pretty exciting, an unassuming horse that travels well in his races. He wants to relax and get there on the line.”
